


Post-Op

by RebaK1tten



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Meet the Family, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Sheriff's first name is Andrew, sheriff's point of view
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-18
Updated: 2014-07-18
Packaged: 2018-02-09 11:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1980441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebaK1tten/pseuds/RebaK1tten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From a prompt on tumblr about declaring your love in a hospital.  </p><p> </p><p>Andrew pauses outside the room, taking a breath. He hates hospitals and hates that his son is here again. Again. He’s about to enter when he hears someone inside the room say, “Oh, you stupid, stupid boy.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Post-Op

“I should have been here earlier,” Andrew sighs, scraping a hand through his hair.

Melissa squeezes his arm and turns him towards her. “Don’t do that to yourself, Andrew, you can’t be everywhere at once. He’ll be fine - he probably isn’t even awake yet and he didn’t know you weren’t here. The surgery went well, and he’ll go home in a couple of days.” There’s an alarm ringing in the hallway and Melissa turns towards a red light that goes on above a doorway back the way they came. “I have to go, but he’s two doors down on your right. I’ll come in as soon as I can,” she says and shoves him down the hall.

Andrew pauses outside the room, taking a breath. He hates hospitals and hates that his son is here again. Again. He’s about to enter when he hears someone inside the room say, “Oh, you stupid, stupid boy.”

He pauses, steadying himself because there are rules. Yes, his son can be stupid, but Andrew’s the only one who is allowed to call him that. He enters the room and sees an older man sitting by his son’s bed, hand wrapped around the back of his neck. He’s younger than Andrew, but based on the lines around his eyes, clearly older than his college aged son. He’s either ignoring Andrew or hasn’t noticed him, probably the latter, with how focused he is on Stiles.

Andrew looks at the tubes and wires connected to Stiles leading to machines that beep and hum. God, he hates hospitals.

“Sheriff,” the man says, looking at him calmly. Now that Andrew really looks at him, he sees he looks worried, as worried as Andrew. And as exhausted as Andrew feels. And he looks familiar, although Andrew can’t quite place him.

He nods, and asks, “How is he? Oh, and by the way, who are you?” He looks at the man by his son’s bed and remembers conversations he’s had with Stiles. “Peter? Are you Peter from college?”

The man smiles and nods, looking pleased. “I’m Peter. He’s mentioned me?”

“A few times. In his way of subtly dropping hints. He said you were older, are you a teacher or something?” Andrew asks, trying to figure out where he knows this man. Maybe he was in a brochure or newsletter or something. In the meantime, Stiles just lies on the bed, unmoving and with monitors beeping.

“Or something,” Peter murmurs, and looks back at Stiles, face back to neutral.

“Okay, how’s he doing?” Melissa breezes into the room and then stops suddenly. “Peter? I thought…where’s Scott?”

Peter approaches her and whispers, “He’s in pain still, Melissa. Can’t you increase the pain meds?” Andrew stands quietly to the side, registering that Melissa knows this man. She looks at him clenching and unclenching his hand, shaking it out as though it fell asleep under Stiles’ neck. Andrew still doesn’t know why Peter’s here, but he agrees that Stiles shouldn’t be kept in pain.

“Peter, we will. But first he needs to wake up so we can check on his progress. Then, we’ll ask him about his pain levels and adjust his meds, if needed.” She glances at the monitors and looks at Andrew, not meeting his eyes. “It might sound mean, but a little pain can help him wake up.” Stiles takes that moment to make a little noise and Peter moves towards him, stopped by Melissa’s hand on his arm this time. “Let him be. Why don’t you go home for a bit and let his father stay with him? Scott’ll call you a little later when he’s awake.”

“Hey!” Scott exclaims, rushing into the room. “He awake? Hi, Sheriff. Oh, hi, Peter.”

Melissa kisses his forehead and says, “Hi, honey. I was just telling Peter that he should go home for a bit and you’ll call him when Stiles is awake and more comfortable. Right?” Scott may be an alpha werewolf with his pack, but clearly Melissa outranks him and Andrew’s glad not to be on the receiving side of her pointed glare.

“Sure, yeah. I’ll call you, Peter,” Scott says, turning his back on Peter, clearly a dismissal. He glances at Andrew, giving him a quick smile, and goes to stand by Stiles’ bed, staring at his friend.

Melissa touches Andrew’s shoulder and smiles softly. “I’m gonna leave you guys for a few. If he wakes up, push the buzzer and we’ll be right in. And don’t worry if he doesn’t wake right up, he’s had a lot of drugs.”

 

Andrew and Scott sit by Stiles’ bed and silently watch him sleep. “What the hell happened, Scott?” Andrew asks. “Stiles has been home on break for three days and now he’s in the fucking hospital having his goddamn spine operated on!”

Scott shakes his head and rubs his hands over his face. “I know, I know,” Scott says and his voice cracks. “He wasn’t even supposed to be involved. There was this faerie and she was angry and – okay, so Allison found a rowan tree in the preserve and wanted to make some arrows from it, because it’s supposed to have really strong protective properties, you know? So we were in the woods, cutting down some branches, but apparently this faerie liked the tree and was protecting it and got mad at us.  And you might think that faeries are weak or something, but man, she was strong and she was pissed.” He stops to catch his breath and looks at Andrew with the puppy dog eyes Andrew’s seen since he and Stiles were both six years old and getting into the cookie jar. “So anyway, she came at Allison and Stiles was with us, but he wasn’t doing anything with us, he was just hanging out with Peter. And then Stiles saw her throw a spell or something and so he throws himself in front of Allison and …that’s when she chucked him into the tree.”

Andrew sighs and looks to the ceiling, trying to figure out what all this means. Seriously, none of this stuff was on the chessboard. “So…is this fairie thing gone? Or is it going to kill a whole bunch of people?”

“Totally gone,” Scott confirms. “After she hurt Stiles -- man, Peter was on her in a flash and just ripped her apart.”

“Okay, so Peter was there? Did he come down from college with Stiles? And how can he rip up one of these faerie things if they’re so tough?”

“Umm? I don’t think so; I think he’s been here. I know he visits Stiles at college, but I don’t think he was there in the last couple of weeks,” Scott says, looking genuinely confused, which Andrew thinks is a default expression for him. “I think he was just so angry and scared for Stiles that he was able to like, sneak up on it? Her?”

Andrew stops and thinks for minute, trying to put all of this together. “Wait. He’s a werewolf? Peter’s a werewolf?”

“Yeah,” Scott says, studying him. “Didn’t you know that? He’s the one who bit and turned me originally. Derek’s uncle.”

“Peter Hale?  Like missing Peter Hale? He’s an alpha?” Andrew demands, taking a step towards Scott, and then steps back when Stiles’ brows draws together and he whimpers a bit, as though he can hear them or feel the tension in the room. “And you’re an alpha?” It took him a while to get all this straight and sometimes he doesn’t think he actually does. So many things he thought were just scary stories are actually walking around in Beacon Hills.

“Well, I am now, but originally, Peter was an alpha and he bit me. And then when Derek killed him, Derek became the alpha. And then Derek gave up his alpha power to save his sister, Cora. And I became an alpha… I just did.” Scott answers and shrugs and Andrew really just wants to brain the kid.

“Can we back up a second, please? Derek killed Peter?”

Scott nods and says, “Yeah, but that was a while ago. They’re kind of over it and Derek’s even pretty much forgiven Peter for killing his sister.”

“Cora? I thought you said Derek saved her,” Andrew says, scratching his head.

“Laura,” Scott explains, although it doesn’t help. “Not Cora.”

Andrew looks down at Stiles who chooses this moment to groan and mutter, “Dad?”

“Yeah, son, I’m here,” Andrew says, stepping forward to Stiles’ bed. He brushes a bit of damp hair off his forehead.

“Water?” Stiles asks, looking at the table next to the bed. It’s kind of depressing to Andrew, how he can wake up and instantly recognize where things are in a hospital room.

“Sure, one second,” he says, pouring some into the plastic cup and adjusting the straw so Stiles can drink while still lying down.

“Um, good,” Stiles says and frowns when Andrew pulls it away after a couple of sips.

“Little more in a few minutes,” Andrew says. “Scott, can you let your Mom know he’s awake?”

“Done,” Scott nods. “Hey, bro, you’re gonna be okay,” he says to Stiles with a smile and squeezes his foot through the blanket.

“Hmm,” Stiles says, starting to doze off. He forces his eyes open and murmurs, “Is Peter okay?”

“He’s fine,” Andrew says. “And when you’re awake, we’re gonna have a long talk.”

Stiles sighs and goes back to sleep.

 

Stiles is in the hospital for three nights total. His back is doing fine from the surgery, but he ends up with a minor infection that needs to be treated before he can be released. Most of his pain is from all the other bruising and not the surgery. This is also when someone goes on an arson spree and Andrew needs to be there.  Surprisingly, it’s no one supernatural, but whoever it is is burning abandoned buildings in the city’s industrial area. And since two homeless people were killed in the last fire, Andrew needs to be at work.

When Andrew finally gets to the hospital to check on Stiles, Peter’s usually there. If Stiles is awake, they’re talking quietly and Andrew sees Peter smile at whatever Stiles is saying. If Stiles is asleep, Peter sits silently watching him, occasionally reaching out to touch him, like he wants to be sure he’s still there. It’s something Andrew remembers doing with Claudia, when she was heavily sedated and unmoving.

Scott’s said that the wolves can normally hear and smell people approaching, but the smells and all the voices in the hospital throw him off. Andrew isn’t sure if the same is true of Peter or if Peter just chooses to ignore his approach. Maybe it’s part of a hand-off, and Peter’s way to ensure that Stiles isn’t alone for even a minute. He’ll be in the room when Andrew comes in and politely nods and smiles, saying, “Good evening, Sheriff,” or whatever time of day it is that Andrew manages to make it in.

“Peter,” he’ll reply with a nod. “How are things?”

“He seems better, his fever is lower,” Peter reports. And then he’ll look back at Andrew’s only son and brush a hand on forehead. “I’ll let you have some time to visit alone,” he says, passing Andrew on his way out of the room. He only calls Andrew ‘Sheriff’, never addresses him by name.

 

Andrew is able to be at the hospital the day Stiles is to be released. The surgery was relatively minor and he’ll need to be at home for a bit with a mixture of a little bed rest, physical therapy and not-too-strenuous regular daily activities.

Andrew stops outside the room, hearing Peter say, “I’ll drive you to your therapy, because you are _not_ skipping it.”

“Hmm, okay, that’ll be good.” Stiles sighs and says, “I’m probably going to end up missing the whole next semester.”

“I checked and you can still transfer to an online class or maybe two if you feel up to it. But the top priority is you getting better,” Peter says quietly and Andrew can picture him stroking Stiles’ arm.

“I’ll feel better when I’m back home. Thanks for being here and thanks for being good with my Dad,” Stiles says quietly.

“He’s your Dad; I know he’s worried about you.” There’s a pause before Peter says, “It’s just odd, thinking of someone else loving you as much as I do.”

“Loser, I knew you loved me. He loved me first, in a different way, you know,” Stiles answers and chuckles. “And hey, I love you, too.”

Andrew clears his throat and comes into the room. He has a couple of hours off before he needs to get back to work and hopefully he’ll be able to complete the process of getting Stiles discharged and home before he’s due back to work.

“Sheriff,” Peter says, always distant and polite. He gives Stiles’ hand a squeeze and gets up to leave.

“Peter,” Andrew says. “Sit. Stiles will be released soon and we could use you settling him in at home.”

Stiles smiles at him and then at Peter. “Can’t wait to get out of here and back to real life.”

“Us, too,” Peter replies and settles in the chair next to his bed, and gives Andrew a small smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so since the Sheriff doesn't have a first name (after three full seasons) I call him Andrew. 
> 
> Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://rebakitt3n.tumblr.com/) and tell me your Peter/Stiles thoughts!


End file.
